This Presidential Address offers elements for a systematic and cumulative study of destigmatization, or the process by which low-status groups gain recognition and worth. Contemporary sociologists ...tend to focus on inequality in the distribution of resources, such as occupations, education, and wealth. Complementing this research, this address draws attention to “recognition gaps,” defined as disparities in worth and cultural membership between groups in a society. I first describe how neoliberalism promotes growing recognition gaps. Then, drawing on research on stigmatized groups across several societies, I analyze how experiences of stigma and destigmatization are enabled and constrained by various contextual factors and actors, including institutions, cultural repertoires, knowledge workers, and social movement activists. I conclude by proposing a research agenda for the sociology of recognition and destigmatization, and by sketching how social scientists, policymakers, organizations, and citizens can contribute to the reduction of recognition gaps.
The outbreak of COVID-19 is a public health crisis that has had a profound impact on society. Stigma is a common phenomenon in the prevalence and spread of infectious diseases. In the crisis caused ...by the pandemic, widespread public stigma has influenced social groups. This study explores the negative emotions arousal effect from online public stigmatization during the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact on social cooperation. We constructed a model based on the literature and tested it on a sample of 313 participants from the group being stigmatized. The results demonstrate: (1) relevance and stigma perception promote negative emotions, including anxiety, anger, and grief; (2) the arousal of anger and grief leads to a rise in the altruistic tendency within the stigmatized group; and (3) stigmatization-induced negative emotions have a complete mediating effect between perceived relevance and altruistic tendency, as well as perceived stigma and altruistic tendency. For a country and nation, external stigma will promote the group becoming more united and mutual help. One wish to pass the buck but end up helping others unintentionally. We should not simply blame others, including countries, regions, and groups under the outbreak of COVID-19, and everyone should be cautious with the words and actions in the Internet public sphere.
Childhood obesity is increasing in Sweden. All children are offered regularly spread health visits to a school nurse. As health visits include a measure of height and weight and a health dialogue, ...school nurses can discover, disclose, and treat a child's weight gain. The aim of this study was to describe school nurses’ experiences and challenges in working with childhood obesity. This qualitative study collected data through focus-group discussion and semi-structured interviews with ten female school nurses from six municipalities. Data were analysed inductively using manifest qualitative content analysis. The study was reported using the COREQ guidelines. Stigmatization and lack of resources are major challenges for school nurses working with childhood obesity, and they experience frustration, powerlessness and feel that they provide unequal treatment. The present study concludes that obesity stigmatization is a widespread challenge for school nurses. They cannot alone generate all the resources needed or conquer all challenges. Evidence-based guidelines, increased knowledge, time for reflections and peer support could potentially empower school nurses, reduce frustration, and improve the quality of and equality in childhood obesity treatment.
This study aims to investigate the discourse of stigmatization of childfree individuals from Indonesian citizens’ perspective, represented in netizens’ comments on the childfree by choice of the ...Youtube account Menjadi Manusia. This study used a descriptive qualitative method with a critical discourse analysis approach from van Dijk’s perspective. The study conducted three stages of research: data collection, data analysis, and presentation of results. The data source was the comments column in the childfree by choice discussion video on the Menjadi Manusia Youtube account. Data in the form of written utterances were collected by reading and note-taking. The data were analyzed in aspects of discourse structure, speech strategies, and social cognition. The results elucidate the macro text structure is embodied in the theme. By this meaning, the utterances align with pro-childfree, neutral, and contra-childfree values. Contra-childfree utterance is more dominant rather than pro-childfree and neutral. Contra-childfree utterance uses several strategies: quoting religious text sources, using rhetorical questions, analogies, and argumentative language. Individuals who do not want a child are labeled with a negative stigma as they are considered against Indonesian society’s religion and sociocultural values. It indicates that the discourse tends to be dominated by pronatalist ideas that require women to have children.
Revisiting the social stigma of loneliness Kerr, Natalie A.; Stanley, Taylor B.
Personality and individual differences,
March 2021, 2021-03-00, 20210301, Letnik:
171
Journal Article
Recenzirano
In past studies examining the stigmatization of loneliness, perceivers evaluated hypothetical targets who were lonely and socially inept or reclusive. For example, Lau and Gruen (1992) described the ...lonely target as a person who “pretty much keeps to himself.” This is problematic because recent research shows that lonely people do not have deficient social skills, and they spend no more time alone than nonlonely people. The purpose of the current research was to replicate Lau and Gruen's well-cited findings and then examine current perceptions of lonely individuals without confounding loneliness and sociability. We began, in Study 1, with a replication of Lau and Gruen. In Study 2, we asked college students to make judgments about targets who varied in their feelings of loneliness but not in their social behaviors. In a final study, we examined the perceptions among a larger and more diverse sample of U.S. adults. We found that college students, in general, disparaged lonely targets, but the stigma was more apparent when the lonely targets were described as reclusive. We found little evidence of stigmatization among the more diverse sample of U.S. adults. Our results highlight the need for additional research on the stigma surrounding loneliness.
•In general, college students stigmatized hypothetical lonely targets.•The stigma was more (versus less) apparent when the lonely targets were also reclusive.•A larger and more diverse sample of U.S. adults did not devalue lonely targets.
Disability and employment - overview and highlights Vornholt, Katharina; Villotti, Patrizia; Muschalla, Beate ...
European journal of work and organizational psychology,
01/2018, Letnik:
27, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Due to the expected decline in the working-age population, especially in European countries, people with disabilities are now more often recognized as a valuable resource in the workforce and ...research into disability and employment is more important than ever. This paper outlines the state of affairs of research on disability and employment. We thereby focus on one particular group of people with disabilities, that is to say people with mental disabilities. We define disability according to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) of the World Health Organization, by that recognizing that disability results from the interaction of person and environment. Key issues, including the complexity of defining disability, the legal situation in Europe and North America concerning disability at work, and barriers and enablers to employment, are discussed. For each of the topics we show important findings in the existing literature and indicate where more in-depth research is needed. We finalize with a concrete research agenda on disability and employment and provide recommendations for practice.
We develop a model to explain the process by which corporate failure leads to professional devaluation of individual elites. We envision that corporate failure evokes a stigmatization process, in ...which society's arbiters engage in constituent-minded sensemaking to interpret the conditions surrounding the failure, including the characteristics of the individual elite, and arrive at judgments about the person's blameworthiness. We discuss implications of this research for the study of stigma and stigmatization, as well as "settling-up" in managerial labor markets.
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